Sons of Anarchy: "Dorylus"Review

Sons of Anarchy has always been one of the rougher, grittier shows on television, but the darker aspects of SAMCRO, and specifically their leader Clay, came floating to the surface in "Dorylus."

It may be a little ridiculous to talk about the dark themes on this show as if they were anything new; after all, this is a show about outlaw bikers who traffic in guns, violence and intimidation. But there has been something different this season about Clay's single-minded focus on getting the club to sign off on his deal with the cartel. To quote Bobby, Clay is "sprinting for the door, stuffing [his] pockets before it slams shut." Pity the poor soul who tried to get in his way this week, whether it was Bobby, Piney, the guy being eaten alive by ants, or even Gemma.

That's right, there was a guy being eaten alive by ants this week, something that the club's ammo connection tried to use as a way of intimidating Clay into giving him a bigger piece of the gunrunning pie. Somewhat stupidly, Clay and Bobby were left alone with the guy and when he overheard their conversation Clay killed him quickly. Killing that man was pretty much the only merciful thing Clay did this episode, and it was only accidentally compassionate.

Kenny Johnson had a bigger presence this week as Kozik accidentally lost a truckload of guns to some street thugs. The resulting pursuit led to some action scenes, and also brought the club to the doorstep of Vivica, played by the always intriguing Marianne Jean-Baptiste. I loved Vivica for the iron fist she had over the neighborhood, but even more for naming her sons Luther and Vandross. Also injecting a little humor into the episode was Tig's obvious fascination with Vivica; he told Jax that "she makes Gemma look like Donna Reed." Let's not go crazy there Tig, there's no one on earth who can make Gemma look like Donna Reed.

Also amusing were the antics of Gemma and Unser as they tried to find John Teller's letters in Tara's office. After getting caught Gemma did her best to give Tara the impression that she was a victim of John Teller's absence, but it wasn't quite believable, especially considering how desperate she is to keep Jax from knowing anything.

The revelation that Juice may be in danger of being kicked out of the club because his father was black was just another disturbing element in this episode. Credit goes to Theo Rossi for his scene with Rockmond Dunbar's Roosevelt. Juice's inner freak out was clear on his face, while he still tried to hold it together in front of Roosevelt.

The brutality on this show has turned inward before, most notably when Tig killed Opie's wife in Season 1, but it still packed a punch to see Clay manhandling Gemma when she questioned his decision to get involved with drugs, or later when he threatened to slit Piney's throat. Even a seemingly innocent conversation with Tara that started with Clay thanking her for helping out in the previous episode turned sinister when Clay hinted that he knew Tara was looking into John Teller's suspicious death.

Bobby was one of the bigger obstacles in Clay's way since he had been pretty clear that he was not onboard with Clay's plan to transport cocaine for the cartel, and it was sad to see Bobby's heart be broken by the vote in the end, illustrated so well by his walk away from the rest of the club after the vote. It was reminiscent of Jax's exit from the clubhouse in Season 2 when he was at odds with Clay. The take away lesson here? If you're going to go up against Clay, you'd better be ready for a down and dirty fight, and you should probably be prepared to lose. Even the camera angle on Clay when he won the vote was distinctly menacing.

Another interesting aspect of Clay's conversation with Bobby was that Clay said he wants to leave Bobby in charge. This goes against his agreement with Jax to hand over the reins to Opie; Clay was just telling everyone what he thinks they want to hear. Jax was pretty disingenuous himself when he specifically left out the part that he would be leaving when he got Opie on board with the plan. Opie believed that Jax meant the two of them would run things together, and Jax did not correct him. For a group of guys who are supposed to be closer than brothers, living under a code, there sure is a lot of deceit going on. The bond of brotherhood is unraveling.